March 29, 2011
Bio-Heroes
Critics of biofuels would go to great lengths to distort the truth and smear the records of supporters. One doesn’t have to look far to find the silliness to which some would stoop. Friends of the Earth, one such group determined to embarrass themselves into irrelevance, went so far as to try to attract media attention to their poorly uninformed and sadly named “Biofool of the Year” award. When will groups such as FOE finally see that their argument is really just a greenwash of Big Oil? When will they see that to do nothing now – as they ultimately are calling for – is to continue to rely on oil that is getting dirtier, riskier and costlier to extract with every passing day?
After 20 years of continual warfare in the Middle East, when so many service men and women have sacrificed so much and taxpayers have paid fortunes to support Big Oil’s access to Middle East oil, we don’t think it is either appropriate or smart to label policymakers seeking alternatives to oil as ‘fools.’
Foreign oil is a drain on our economy, pollutes our environment and forces the great American economy to bow to foreign nations. Ethanol – from grain and cellulosic biomass – can break oil’s hold over our economy, our environment and our national security. At Growth Energy, instead of heaping ridicule on leaders that want to break our country’s addiction to foreign oil, we choose to laud them, and ask others to support their efforts.
Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.)
Senator Klobuchar introduced a bill this year that will help our nation achieve energy independence. Her bill, the Securing America’s Future with Energy and Sustainable Technologies (SAFEST) Act, includes provisions to promote the production and use of clean, renewable fuels like ethanol through an investment in ethanol infrastructure – including blender pumps and Flex Fuel Vehicles, which are capable of operating on any combination of conventional and renewable fuels. With the price of oil skyrocketing to more than $100 a barrel, efforts like these will help ease pain at the pump today and in the future.
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)
Sen. Grassley has been a staunch supporter of the ethanol industry for years. In December 2010 he helped extend the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) for one year to give Congress the time it needs to consider longer term proposals this year, like the Fueling Freedom plan Growth Energy proposed last summer. By removing the artificial barriers that prevent motorists from having an alternative to foreign oil, we can create an open market where fuels can compete. Increasing the number of flex fuel pumps at gas stations and flex fuel vehicles on the road will mean consumers can choose their fuel – instead of having that choice made for them.
General Wesley Clark
Retired four star General Wesley K. Clark dedicated his life to defending his country. Today, as Co-Chairman of Growth Energy, he is defending the nation he loves against a weak energy policy that has led us to an unsustainable foreign policy of engagement in the most dangerous region in the world. Not only does our addiction to Middle East oil mean we continue to send money to our enemies, but the inherent unrest in the Middle East threatens access to that oil, even when the unrest is in a state like Egypt, which is neither hostile to the U.S. or an oil-exporting nation. Gen. Clark is working to promote the use of the renewable fuel we have the capacity to produce today in America to break the hold that the Middle East has over our country.
Cindy and Chuck Zimmerman
This pair of bloggers lead the group ZimmComm New Media. Cindy and Chuck run a neutral, objective news site. They have freelance writers who contribute to their websites and they specialize in blogging, podcasting and managing RSS feeds for the agricultural industry. Cindy and Chuck support the use of biofuels and other forms of alternative energy as a way to strengthen our country. If you want to know what is going on in the domestic fuel world, turn to Cindy and Chuck for the latest updates and inside information.
U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack
If anyone in the Administration understands biofuels it is Tom Vilsack. The Ag Secretary recognizes the role that America’s farmers can play in our energy independence. Our corn growers have demonstrated they have more than enough capacity to satisfy all demand for livestock feed, exports, and fuel ethanol – without any impact on our food supplies. Ethanol produces both fuel and food – distillers grains fed to livestock as a highly nutritious and affordable feed. When it comes to feeding and fueling the world, Sec. Vilsack knows that ethanol is part of the solution.
